# Humidor humidity keeps rising!



## JumboJoseph (Aug 11, 2011)

I just started smoking cigars about a month ago. I just got a nice humidor from Thomson cigars, 125ct, the cigars where crap.... But any who, it has been down stairs for a few hours now after i seasoned it distilled water wipe down meathod. Its @ 80% humidity at the moment. So i was wondering if my hygrometer is off. It is a digatal one so i figured i dont need to calibirate. Maybe I am wrong and it needs to be or what is going on.


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## fivespdcat (Nov 16, 2010)

Joseph, welcome to Puff, head over to the newbie section and introduce yourself to everyone, we're generally a friendly group.

BTT, your humidor could be a few different issues, but you need to start with a good base. Make sure your hygrometer is calibrated before doing anything. After that you need to let the humidor stabilize after seasoning then bring it back where it needs to be. Also your humidifying device might not be right or over saturated, or you soaked the walls too much, or, or, or... 

BTW, I'm sure this will get moved to the Cigar Accessory Discussion...


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## JumboJoseph (Aug 11, 2011)

Thanks for the welcome. Sorry i didnt know where this thread should go. It has one of them cheap plastic humidafier in it i soak it for. I did seasoned it already, but i should take everything out and check the hygrometer. Then start over again?


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## ckay (May 10, 2010)

All you need to know is in this link.

http://www.cigarforums.net/forums/v...5096-how-herf-n-turf-seasons-new-humidor.html


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## fivespdcat (Nov 16, 2010)

No worries, we've all had threads moved...

I would take the Hygro out and calibrate it, then put it back in the seasoned humi. Also if you want to try something a little more "reliable" than the sponge in a plastic brick head over to the KL thread...

http://www.cigarforums.net/forums/vb/cigar-accessory-discussion/276966-kitty-litter-set-up.html


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## JumboJoseph (Aug 11, 2011)

Wow, i am inpressed how quick and helpfull everyone is so far. I have been looking at them humi beeds from a guy named Viper. They seem the way to go.


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## usrower321 (Mar 27, 2011)

fivespdcat said:


> No worries, we've all had threads moved...
> 
> I would take the Hygro out and calibrate it, then put it back in the seasoned humi. Also if you want to try something a little more "reliable" than the sponge in a plastic brick head over to the KL thread...
> 
> http://www.cigarforums.net/forums/vb/cigar-accessory-discussion/276966-kitty-litter-set-up.html


Welcome to Puff!!

Listen to Abe. Get some exquisicat KL and you will never look back. They are about 1/10th the price of beads and you get more than you'll need for the ensuing slope. They do take a little trial and error but it's worth it. Also, maybe don't shop at Thompson anymore. IMHO there are much better, less expensive, higher quality retailers out there. That's just my opinion though.



JumboJoseph said:


> Wow, i am inpressed how quick and helpfull everyone is so far. I have been looking at them humi beeds from a guy named Viper. They seem the way to go.


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## JumboJoseph (Aug 11, 2011)

I say its been about an hr, I know i should wate a min of 6hrs but doing the salt test teaspoon of salt with some water to turn it to a paste. And its reading 86% :bawling:


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## fivespdcat (Nov 16, 2010)

The longer you wait the better. I usually leave mine in the bag for 36 hours. In this hobby patience is greatly rewarded. Make sure to get it right and you will be much happier.


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## fanman1 (Sep 6, 2010)

JumboJoseph said:


> I say its been about an hr, I know i should wate a min of 6hrs but doing the salt test teaspoon of salt with some water to turn it to a paste. And its reading 86% :bawling:


I hope that sucker has a calibrate button or somthing or else you will be doing a bunch of math evry time you look at your humi (math and cigars are a bad combo). but kitty litter is bomb these people know what they are talking about. personally instead of "seasoning" a humidor i just let the himidifyer in there with pg solution for a few days untill it is steady at 70 that way you dont damage the humidor with water inside it. you probably didnt ruin it but i wiuld let it dry out a couple of days then put the humidifyer in there. but make sure you remember propelyne glycol slution that way you get the humidity where you want it!


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## fanman1 (Sep 6, 2010)

oh and by the way stay away from thompsons! use Cigars International or get sucked into their sister site Cigar bid i like both.


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## JumboJoseph (Aug 11, 2011)

No i can't calibrate the thing. Its a very nice humidor, wish i new about Puff before. I would have just made a coolador or wineador..... I got mine Humidor from thompson.com Thing is sexy, awesome seal.


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## monsterBEN (Aug 10, 2011)

fivespdcat said:


> The longer you wait the better. I usually leave mine in the bag for 36 hours. In this hobby patience is greatly rewarded. Make sure to get it right and you will be much happier.


I could not agree with this post more..

Skipping out on the extra 12-24 hours for your hygrometer calibration/humidor seasoning is NOT worth the extra 2-3 weeks of headache that may happen if you cut corners.


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## Tman (Sep 12, 2010)

JumboJoseph said:


> I say its been about an hr, I know i should wate a min of 6hrs but doing the salt test teaspoon of salt with some water to turn it to a paste. And its reading 86% :bawling:


Not sure if you wet your salt too much. You should put just enough water in the salt to saturate the salt. In other words, you should not see much water in the mix.

Here's a guide I wrote on how to do a salt test.

http://www.cigarforums.net/forums/vb/cigar-accessory-discussion/280846-how-do-salt-test.html


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## usrower321 (Mar 27, 2011)

JumboJoseph said:


> No i can't calibrate the thing. Its a very nice humidor, wish i new about Puff before. I would have just made a coolador or wineador..... I got mine Humidor from thompson.com Thing is sexy, awesome seal.


Once your hygro is calibrated and you get it back in the humi and the humi is still in the mid 80s then just leave it open for a few hours *as long as your indoor humidity is lower than your goal humidity* Indoors my humidity is about 50% so it would work. If you don't have a/c your indoor rh is probably high.

Oh and just go to sleep and check the hygro in the morning. You can't be tortured by waiting if you aren't awake


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## JumboJoseph (Aug 11, 2011)

Thanks for the info everyone helping out so much. Nice guide btw thanks for that Tman/ Now should i still leave my humimidafier in the humidor and keep seasoning it? there is a little hole in the front where took out the hygdrometer, don't want to mess up my new humidor.


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## ktblunden (Oct 7, 2010)

I know the waiting is hard, but patience is of the utmost importance when it comes to verifying the accuracy of your hygro and properly seasoning the humidor. You must have a stable environment before you start putting cigars in it. I've rushed the process in the past and ended up fighting the humidor for months as a result. I dried out some good sticks in the process and let me tell you, it takes a long time to bring those back to life. So follow the threads that have been linked and you should be alright. 

And I'm another huge proponent of using Kitty Litter. It sounds strange, but it works perfectly. Just keep a little spray bottle of distilled water next to the humi and spray the KL every so often and you're golden. However, if you live somewhere with high ambient humidity, you need to be more concerned with removing humidity than adding it.


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## JumboJoseph (Aug 11, 2011)

KL does sound strang. But i will just try the beads my humi isnt big for KL atm, but by the sounds of it my humi will be running out of space before i know it.


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## ktblunden (Oct 7, 2010)

JumboJoseph said:


> Thanks for the info everyone helping out so much. Nice guide btw thanks for that Tman/ Now should i still leave my humimidafier in the humidor and keep seasoning it? there is a little hole in the front where took out the hygdrometer, don't want to mess up my new humidor.


First things first. Let the salt test run for at least 24 hours (36 is better) and make sure you are starting with an accurate tool. Can you post a link to the humidor on Thompson's site so I can see what you mean by hole?


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## gasdocok (May 14, 2011)

ok, #1, welcome to puff.

#2 - don't listen to ANYONE on here who has told you to do anything other than to read the herf-n-turf how to season a humi thread. His advice is priceless and has helped hundreds if not thousands of brothers season the humidor properly.

#3 - don't short change the salt test. minimum 24 hours, the longer the better.

#4 - the reason you are at 80% is because the air in the humidor is 80% but the wood is still dry. patience patience patience.

#5 - oh yeah, welcome to puff ( i know I said it twice!)

#6 - *Kitty litter rocks!!!!*


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## Partially Deaf (Jun 25, 2011)

gasdocok said:


> ok, #1, welcome to puff.
> 
> #2 - don't listen to ANYONE on here who has told you to do anything other than to read the herf-n-turf how to season a humi thread. His advice is priceless and has helped hundreds if not thousands of brothers season the humidor properly.
> 
> ...


This man is correct. Especially on the litter.


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## JumboJoseph (Aug 11, 2011)

is the humidor i bought its i say a maybe almost 1/4-1/2 round hole where the holes in the hygrometer reads.And thanks for the welcomes. cant post links yet. But it is there one that comes with 60 cigars its a humi combo red with green label sticks. around $119 for it


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## ktblunden (Oct 7, 2010)

Ah, ok got it. I wouldn't be surprised if that hygro is not at all accurate. I'd go ahead and continue that salt test, but you might consider picking up another hygro. I have yet to see one that comes with a humi, analog or digital, that's accurate. You can pick up the round style Xikar or a Caliber III for probably around $20-25. Either should be plenty accurate (though I would still salt test).


EDIT: Hey, post #1111. That's kind of cool.


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## JumboJoseph (Aug 11, 2011)

Thanks i was thinking that. And nice post number, better then #6666mg: also how about them little kits you can buy to that has the little pack init that is 75.5% humi?


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## JumboJoseph (Aug 11, 2011)

I went head and bought one of them Caliber III and a boveda calibrate kit, from ebay. When i get them in the mail i am going to toss both hygrometer in there to test both think I might be doing the salt test wrong just to play it on the safe side. Also took out that crappy humidifier that came with my humidor and will start fresh when i get the hygrometer down and set. Thanks for all the help everyone.


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## JumboJoseph (Aug 11, 2011)

With me doing the salt test. I went and took out my humidafier from my humidor, i wont be able to attend to it for a couple days. So i took it out so I would not run in to trouble down the road. Now with that being said, it had about maybe 22hrs of somewhat seasoning time. My ? is when i start it again when my new meter comes. Would it be ok for me to just go buy a couple of them boveda seasoning packs toss them in and wait 14 days and be all set? Or will I wind up messing up my humidor?:hat:


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## ktblunden (Oct 7, 2010)

JumboJoseph said:


> With me doing the salt test. I went and took out my humidafier from my humidor, i wont be able to attend to it for a couple days. So i took it out so I would not run in to trouble down the road. Now with that being said, it had about maybe 22hrs of somewhat seasoning time. My ? is when i start it again when my new meter comes. Would it be ok for me to just go buy a couple of them boveda seasoning packs toss them in and wait 14 days and be all set? Or will I wind up messing up my humidor?:hat:


I would say it's worth the wait to do it right. I think you're on the right track with the Caliber III and the boveda seasoning packs. Wait the time they tell you to and you will be good to go.


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## zabhatton (Aug 1, 2011)

my humidor keeps losing humidity not too great it still remains within the range. i have a crystal jar inside. its a 100 ct humidor with maybe 12 cigars inside it. the humidity ranges from 67 to 75 i try to keep it at 73 to 75 but it drops to 70 and 67. but very very slowly. for example if its at 75 it might drop to 72 and stay there or it might keep dropping. any suggestions. i just got the humidor and i dont wnat it to be broken


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## WilsonRoa (Dec 20, 2010)

zabhatton said:


> my humidor keeps losing humidity not too great it still remains within the range. i have a crystal jar inside. its a 100 ct humidor with maybe 12 cigars inside it. the humidity ranges from 67 to 75 i try to keep it at 73 to 75 but it drops to 70 and 67. but very very slowly. for example if its at 75 it might drop to 72 and stay there or it might keep dropping. any suggestions. i just got the humidor and i dont wnat it to be broken


1) check the seal on the humi. Do the paper test by take a piece of paper and closing the lid on it. if it slides out then you have a bad seal. Do this test on each side.

2) If the seals are good then it could be that crystal jar. I say get rid of it and either get Beads or Kitty Litter.

3) Although this should of been done first, did you season it? It may not be properly seasoned as well. if you did season it, how did you do it and how long did you wait?


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## WilsonRoa (Dec 20, 2010)

JumboJoseph said:


> With me doing the salt test. I went and took out my humidafier from my humidor, i wont be able to attend to it for a couple days. So i took it out so I would not run in to trouble down the road. Now with that being said, it had about maybe 22hrs of somewhat seasoning time. My ? is when i start it again when my new meter comes. Would it be ok for me to just go buy a couple of them boveda seasoning packs toss them in and wait 14 days and be all set? Or will I wind up messing up my humidor?:hat:


IMO, if you let it air dry for a while (lid open), then starting the seasoning all over again isn't a big deal.


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## zabhatton (Aug 1, 2011)

well i did season it. i wiped the insides with a foam piece and calibrated the hygrometer. it was holding up the humidity when i had a hydra pack in but i removed it since i have the jar thats supposed to automatically keep it at 72 but i did notice when i open it for say 5 to 10 minutes the humidity comes down but i thaught the crystal jar should automatically bring it back up which it doesnt.


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## ktblunden (Oct 7, 2010)

If all you did was wipe the inside that's not enough to really season the wood. Herf's seasoning guide here is pretty much the most concise, well written piece on the subject. If the wood isn't at the proper humidity it will continue to draw humidity out of the crystal jar or anything else in the humidor. Hopefully you haven't put cigars in yet because they will dry out if the wood is still not seasoned.

Any time you open the humidor the humidity will drop, particularly with small humidors. Humidity changes take a long time to happen, don't expect it to bounce back instantly after closing the lid. Also, try not to leave the lid open that long. You should only open the lid long enough to put cigars in or take one out. If you're opening to check the hygro, try not to do that more than once per day.


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## Johnpaul (Aug 15, 2011)

zabhatton said:


> well i did season it. i wiped the insides with a foam piece and calibrated the hygrometer. it was holding up the humidity when i had a hydra pack in but i removed it since i have the jar thats supposed to automatically keep it at 72 but i did notice when i open it for say 5 to 10 minutes the humidity comes down but i thaught the crystal jar should automatically bring it back up which it doesnt.


I think that maybe you are not giving it enough time. The humidity control devices and your buffers (SC wood and your cigars) transfer slowly. You must give them time. Also realize that RH is tied to temperature and will fluctuate with that. Relative humidity - Wikipedia Try ignoring any reading taken less than six hours after you last opened your box. Be patient.

(looks like I was writing the same time as Kevin, oops)


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## WilsonRoa (Dec 20, 2010)

I would avoid wiping anything down. Just soak the sponge in distilled water and place it on a plate inside the humi. Let it sit there for about 2-3 days (with the meter inside). When you open it at that time, it should give you an accurate reading. If its still too high, then put in some kitty litter in there. It should slowly bring down the rH. Do little bits at a time. This way you can get it to where you want it to be. 

If you see that the rH is too low then check the seal. If its low but moderate then maybe it just needs more seasoning time.

A trick a guy at the local B&M taught me was to stick a shot glass of distilled water in the humi. Mark where the water level is at. Leave it there for about 24-48hrs. After that time, open the humi and if you see that the water is still at the same level, then the humi is seasoned. If its below the line, then its still in the process of seasoning.


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## ktblunden (Oct 7, 2010)

WilsonRoa said:


> I would avoid wiping anything down. Just soak the sponge in distilled water and place it on a plate inside the humi. Let it sit there for about 2-3 days (with the meter inside). When you open it at that time, it should give you an accurate reading. If its still too high, then put in some kitty litter in there. It should slowly bring down the rH. Do little bits at a time. This way you can get it to where you want it to be.
> 
> If you see that the rH is too low then check the seal. If its low but moderate then maybe it just needs more seasoning time.
> 
> A trick a guy at the local B&M taught me was to stick a shot glass of distilled water in the humi. Mark where the water level is at. Leave it there for about 24-48hrs. After that time, open the humi and if you see that the water is still at the same level, then the humi is seasoned. If its below the line, then its still in the process of seasoning.


I like that shot glass trick, pretty good idea.


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